This image provided by NASA Wednesday Dec. 30, 2009 shows a view combining infrared images from the ground (red, green) with X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory in the supernova remnant W49B. Studies of two supernova remnants using the Japan-U.S. Suzaku observatory have revealed never-before-seen embers of the high-temperature fireballs that immediately followed the explosions. Even after thousands of years, gas within these stellar wrecks retain the imprint of temperatures 10,000 times hotter than the sun's surface. Suzaku found another fossil fireball. It detected X-rays produced when heavily ionized iron atoms recapture an electron. (AP Photo/NASA)

'This highly distorted supernova remnant may contain the most recent black hole formed in the Milky Way galaxy. The composite image combines X-rays from Chandra (blue and green), radio data from the Very Large Array (pink), and infrared data from the Palomar Observatory (yellow). Most supernova explosions that destroy massive stars are generally symmetrical. In the W49B supernova, however, it appears that the material near its poles was ejected at much higher speeds than that at its equator. There is also evidence that the explosion that produced W49B left behind a black hole and not a neutron star like most other supernovas.'

A delicate sphere of gas, photographed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, floats serenely in the depths of space. The pristine shell, or bubble, is the result of gas that is being shocked by the expanding blast wave from a supernova. Called SNR 0509-67.5 (or SNR 0509 for short), the bubble is the visible remnant of a powerful stellar explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small galaxy about 160,000 light-years from Earth.

'The Crab Nebula is an iconic object in space that has been studied intensely by both telescopes on the ground and those in space. This image of the Crab combines data from three of NASA's Great Observatories. X-rays from Chandra (blue) have been combined with optical images from Hubble (red and yellow) as well as infrared data from Spitzer (purple). Together, these three telescopes provide a striking view of this famous cosmic source.'

This image provided by NASA Wednesday Dec. 30, 2009 shows a view combining infrared images from the ground (red, green) with X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory in the supernova remnant W49B. Studies of two supernova remnants using the Japan-U.S. Suzaku observatory have revealed never-before-seen embers of the high-temperature fireballs that immediately followed the explosions. Even after thousands of years, gas within these stellar wrecks retain the imprint of temperatures 10,000 times hotter than the sun's surface. Suzaku found another fossil fireball. It detected X-rays produced when heavily ionized iron atoms recapture an electron. (AP Photo/NASA)

'This highly distorted supernova remnant may contain the most recent black hole formed in the Milky Way galaxy. The composite image combines X-rays from Chandra (blue and green), radio data from the Very Large Array (pink), and infrared data from the Palomar Observatory (yellow). Most supernova explosions that destroy massive stars are generally symmetrical. In the W49B supernova, however, it appears that the material near its poles was ejected at much higher speeds than that at its equator. There is also evidence that the explosion that produced W49B left behind a black hole and not a neutron star like most other supernovas.'

'This composite image of data from Chandra (blue) and Hubble (yellow and purple) depicts the scene of a supernova explosion's aftermath. The X-ray data reveal a bullet-like structure to the lower right that appears to have been blown out of the remnant. The detection of the bullet, which is traveling at some 5 million miles per hour, is evidence that the explosion that created the remnant was not symmetrical.'

A delicate sphere of gas, photographed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, floats serenely in the depths of space. The pristine shell, or bubble, is the result of gas that is being shocked by the expanding blast wave from a supernova. Called SNR 0509-67.5 (or SNR 0509 for short), the bubble is the visible remnant of a powerful stellar explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small galaxy about 160,000 light-years from Earth.

As a star's shell explodes outward, its core squeezes inward. The result can be a black hole or neutron star. This highly distorted supernova remnant, called W49B, may contain the most recent black hole formed in the Milky Way galaxy.

A sphere of gas floats in the depths of space. Called SNR 0509-67.5, the bubble is the visible remains of a powerful stellar explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy about 160,000 light-years from Earth.

'The Crab Nebula is an iconic object in space that has been studied intensely by both telescopes on the ground and those in space. This image of the Crab combines data from three of NASA's Great Observatories. X-rays from Chandra (blue) have been combined with optical images from Hubble (red and yellow) as well as infrared data from Spitzer (purple). Together, these three telescopes provide a striking view of this famous cosmic source.'

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Originally published on January 10, 2014 6:48 pm

Alicia Soderberg studies the death of stars. Often, these final moments come as violent explosions known as supernovae. They're spectacular events, but catching one as it unfolds can be tricky.

"You have to be in the right place at the right time, and often we're not," says the professor in Harvard's astronomy department. "So all you can do is do a stellar autopsy and go back and try to pick up the pieces and try to figure out what happened."

Soderberg's autopsy involves collecting every signal her team can from the explosions: radio waves, light, X-rays. They try to put this information together in a way that makes sense. And often that's hard to do. "The data analysis itself is very detailed," she says

A few years ago, Soderberg met a graduate student named Wanda Diaz-Merced. Diaz-Merced lost her eyesight years ago, so she studies astronomy not with sight, but with sound.

"I have been able to listen to meteors passing through the atmosphere, solar storms, that is just to give you a gist," she says. The data from stars, comets and planets all sound different. "Every sound I listen from the skies, it has its own voice."

Soderberg and her team worked with Diaz to turn the deaths of stars into songs. Each signal collected in the autopsy gets its own part in the orchestra:

"The Radio gets the drums, the X-ray gets the harpsichord, and everything in between gets a different instrument, like a violin or a flute," Soderberg says. She presented the first of these songs this week at the American Astronomical Society annual meeting in National Harbor, Md.

When Soderberg listens to these songs, she started to hear things. Things she hadn't noticed when she looked at the data.

Each supernova sounds different, because each star dies in a different way.

"Stars can [die] by running into each other for example, like a car crash, or they can die by just running out of fuel," she says. "A lot of stars will do interesting things before they die like pulsate or spin or get overheated."

The songs map the story of the star as it explodes and expands and cools into a cloud of gas and dust.

But these aren't only deaths. These supernova explosions release enormous quantities of elements like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen. Elements we need; elements we're made of.